Emergency Sewer Repairs Downtown

UPDATE:  3-25-11
TRAFFIC DIVERSIONS NEAR SOUTH 15th AND MARKET STREETS IN DOWNTOWN TACOMA ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE END OF APRIL. THIS EXCEEDS INITIAL ESTIMATES BECAUSE EXCAVATION REVEALED THE SEWER LINES IN THIS AREA WILL REQUIRE MORE EXTENSIVE REPAIR.



UPDATE:  3-24-11
WORK WILL LIKELY CONTINUE INTO EARLY APRIL.  CITY STAFF WILL CONTINUE TO DIRECT TRAFFIC AROUND THE CONSTRUCTION SITE AND OPEN STREETS AS THEY CAN.

Sewer repairs near South 15th & Market will block streets for about a week.

Traffic will be diverted in the vicinity of South 15th and Market streets for about a week while crews repair a sewer main that collapsed March 15.

Traffic is expected to be closed on Market Street between South 13th Street and South 15th Street, and along South 15th Street between Fawcett Avenue and Broadway.

The estimate for the duration of this job could change as work progresses and the scope of the collapse is uncovered. The pipe in this area was installed in 1906.

Streets to Close Around Luzon Building

At this afternoon’s City Council Study Session City staff announced that starting tomorrow S. 13th Street and the southbound outside lane of Pacific Ave., adjacent to the Luzon Building will close for an undetermined amount of time.

The street closures are the City’s response to the “life safety” risks that the deterioration of the Luzon Building poses to pedestrians and passing traffic. As S. 13th St. is a major freeway access route to downtown, traffic will be detoured to ramps at S. 21st St. and S. 9th St.

These street closures coincide with road construction along Commerce St. and S. 9th St., making parts of downtown impassable to vehicles. My recommendation for getting around downtown, at least in the interim, is jumping on your bike or putting on some walking shoes.

LINK Light Rail Closed Next Week

Beginning Saturday, August 8th Tacoma Link light rail will be closed for several days for construction. During the closure, free special Tacoma Link buses will serve the light rail route on Pacific Avenue on a similar schedule as the train.

Pavement between rails on Commerce Street between South 9th and South 13th streets needs repair due to heavy use by bus and vehicular traffic. Other maintenance activity along the Tacoma Link route will be completed during the closure. To resume Tacoma Link service as quickly as possible, the City has approved 24/7 construction activity. This work may take up to nine days.

Access to businesses and parking lots on Commerce Street will be maintained at all times during construction. The construction activity on Commerce Street requires Pierce Transit bus service to be relocated to both sides of Pacific Avenue between South 9th and South 11th streets. On-street parking in this area will be suspended during construction.

For more information about Tacoma Link construction, contact Roger Iwata at roger.iwata@soundtransit.org or 206-689-4904.


A Printable rider alert poster is available here.

The Pierce Transit Department of Public Safety in conjunction with the Tacoma Police Department will be addressing the security concerns of the Light Rail Closure and moving from Commerce to Pacific.

Police:
There will be Tacoma Police officers conducting foot patrol in the temporary bus hub on Pacific from 12:00 PM to 12:30 AM

Uniformed Security:
Pierce Transit Security Officers will be riding the bus service along the Light Rail line. They will be working these buses for the majority of the service hours. This may change depending on the level of activity we observe. These officers were chosen to perform this function as they have been trained specifically for bus service and are plugged into our communication system and have the ability to talk to the Pierce Transit staff and TPD officers working for Pierce Transit directly. Additionally they are familiar with and are able to issue exclusions if necessary. They will also be performing their regular patrols at 10th and Commerce and Tacoma Dome Station.

Phone Information:
Pierce Transit Police (Non-Emergency) 253.983.3371
Security Office 253.983.2703 &2703
Security Supervisor’s Office: 253.983.3313

Expect Construction Delays at S. 9th and Broadway

Starting on Tuesday, May 26, contractors will begin to install new power and communication vaults at the intersection of South Ninth Street and Broadway near the Pantages Theater. While this work is underway, the eastbound lanes (downhill) of Ninth Street will be restricted to one-lane.

Due to ongoing work at this intersection, restrictions and delays can be expected over the next several weeks. Signs and flaggers will be in place to notify drivers in the area of the traffic revisions. There will also be temporary sidewalk closures. Pedestrians will be able to cross at South Ninth Street and St. Helens Avenue, but not at Broadway.

This work is outside the scope of the Broadway Local Improvement District, but is associated with the project.

Will Mixed Use Centers Get Complete Streets?

The term “complete streets” refers to streets and sidewalks that are designed, operated and maintained to enable safe and convenient access and travel for all users – pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, and people of all ages and abilities, as well as freight and motor vehicle drivers. This blog reported on the City's initial proposal for complete streets back in October.

Since then City staff has analyzed the opportunities and challenges of “completing” streets within Tacoma’s Mixed-use Centers, and is developing recommended streetscape guidelines for the City Council’s consideration.

A final draft report summarizing the findings and recommendations for complete streets in Tacoma’s Mixed-use Centers, is now under review by the City’s work group. The report incorporates in depth analysis as well as extensive input from city staff, partner agencies, interested groups and citizens. The project team will present the report to the City Council Environment and Public Works Committee on December 10th at their 4:30 pm meeting.

For more information or to view the project presentations to date, you can visit www.cityoftacoma.org/planning, then select MUC Complete Streets Guidelines.

Dome District Stakeholders Comment on Sound Transit Plans

A committed group of business owners and community members concerned about the future of the Dome District has been meeting regularly over the past few months with the Sound Transit Design Team to review proposed designs of the Sounder comuter train extension from D Street to M Street.

For more information about the D to M Street Extension please visit the Hillside Development Council website

In Mid-November the citizens group sent the following memo to Sound Transit articulating their concerns about the process.

_________________________________________
November 13, 2008

To: Sound Transit

From: Citizen of Tacoma

Re: Sounder Train, D Street to M Street Extension

Over the past couple of months a number of citizens have been meeting with the Sound Transit Design Team and City of Tacoma representatives for the design review of the extension of the Sounder Train from D Street to M Street. During this period a number of issues have been revealed which are summarized in this memo.

The issues and comments include:

1. The community and local groups defined a list of 6 general principles to consider in the design of the extension. These were submitted at the first meeting of the group. It appears that the Design Team and Sound Transit are not taking these general principles seriously. It is the strong recommendation that these “general guiding principles” become the committed “design criteria” for the project.

2. A number of key elements may have affected the intent of the “Term Sheet” that was signed by the City of Tacoma and Sound Transit last year. It is recommended that the City of Tacoma/City Council review this “Term Sheet” to determine if it needs to be revisited. The grades and impacts proposed by Sound Transit certainly seem to have changed a number of factors in the agreement.

3. The design seems only to respond to the rail needs, whereas the primary design issue needs to be the people affected by this extension through the emerging urban area.

4. Meeting notes were taken by a Sound Transit scribe and these notes were to be converted to minutes of the meetings. The first meeting minutes were submitted to the group at the second meeting with no prior review. Before the third meeting the citizens reviewed the minutes and responded to a number of erroneous statements in the minutes. To date:

a. The first meeting minutes have not been submitted to the group with corrections noted by the citizens (see attachment).

b. No minutes of the second and third meetings have been distributed.(The minutes were received by email midday today so there is no time to review the minutes prior to the meeting.)

5. The tenor of the meetings has not been consistent:

a. At the first meeting the Sound Transit design team wanted to rush to design judgment and have the citizen group’s blessing on what Sound Transit was presenting. The citizens distributed the “general guiding principles” and a couple of diagrams suggesting that these principles should be the basis of design.

b. The second meeting seemed to be an attempt by the Sound Transit design team to be sensitive to the citizens’ design issues. The dialogue was somewhat encouraging.

c. The third meeting turned the discussions 180 degrees. The presentations were blunt responses to the needs of the rail, with impacts to grades and streets being more serious than previously thought. The Sound Transit design team did not appear to be working toward a people/urban friendly solution.

6. This memo is the results of a number of community gatherings since the last Sound Transit design team/citizens meeting.

7. A number of key questions have surfaced:

a. What should be done about the closing of A Street and what is the mitigation?
b. Why is South C Street now being closed?
c. Why are the potential problems of the at grade crossing at East D Street not being addressed d. What should be done at Pacific Avenue? The group is now told that Pacific Avenue will be lower almost twice as far as indicated at the time of the Term Sheet.

8. There may be other considerations that need to be addressed in this project:

a. Should more grade separations be considered? (i.e. A Street, C Street)
b. What about the impacts of the trains through the rest of the City as it moves through South Tacoma? Recent articles have pointed out some serious concerns about safety along the entire route.

Action Steps that Citizens believe need to be taken:

1. The City of Tacoma needs an independent “rail specialist” and independent “urban design team” to address the concerns of the City and the community that are not high priorities in the design solution by Sound Transit.
2. Sound Transit needs to provide approved minutes of all the meetings, with the first draft of the minutes well in advance of the next meeting day.
3. The three tiers of meetings that are outlined in the “Term Sheet” need to be coordinated. Information from the “Project Management Team” and the “Executive Oversight Committee” need to be transmitted to the Design Team citizens group. Perhaps a citizen of the City needs to be represented on these committees.
4. Information with complete backup data needs to be shared early with all participants so that consensus can be achieved with clear understanding.

The citizens believe that a collaborative approach that really addresses the impacts on the urban area and the quality of life for its community can be achieved. We just need to reorder the priorities.

Attachments:
1. General Guiding Principles
2. Meeting #1 Minutes with citizen comments in red


End of Memo.

Extending the Sounder to Lakewood…Why You Should Care

Although there isn’t much for Pierce County in Sound Transit’s recently passed Proposition 1, Sound Transit construction is headed our way. The proposed extension of the Sounder Commuter line through the Dome District and on to Lakewood will define how the Dome District develops in the years to come.

Although it may not be readily evident, the underutilized Dome District has great potential to redevelop into an active, exciting urban neighborhood on par with Portland’s Pearl District and Vancouver’s Yaletown. Our Dome District is at the nexus of multiple transportation corridors linking the north and south Puget Sound. Amtrak, Sounder, Link light rail, freight rail, Tacoma Dome station park and ride for local and commuter buses, ramps for the I-705 and I-5 freeways and the connection point to the long awaited Water Ditch and Prairie Line pedestrian and bike trails all connect through the District.

Currently, hundreds of people pass through and nearby the Dome District daily, creating a great transit oriented development opportunity; if only we create an urban environment that attracts these would-be customers and residents to stay, shop, live and play. The decisions made in the near future about the Sound Transit extension will set the path for how the Dome District can and will develop in the future.

The D to M street track and signal improvement alignment designed by Sound Transit will send the Sounder through the heart of the Dome District at-grade, with the exception of a raised grade-separated crossing at Pacific Ave. According to Sound Transit, the challenging topography of the Dome District combined with the grade limitations and sightline line requirements for both vehicles and trains restrict the design of the route. Consequently, the proposed $6 million project will bi-sect existing parcels, close South ‘C’ and ‘A’ Streets, define the route by which the Water Ditch Trail enters downtown Tacoma, and create at grade railroad crossings at East ‘D’ and East ‘C’ Streets.

Ultimately, project will redirect intercity passenger trains between Tacoma and Nisqually from the circuitous BNSF freight line along the coast to a passenger oriented inland route. The new routing will enable WSDOT to operate two additional round trip Cascades trains from Portland to Seattle and Sound Transit’s Sounder to extend service to Lakewood. The project will reduce travel time by 6 minutes between Portland and Seattle as well as avoid freight traffic interference through two single-track tunnels and port activities along the current route. Ultimately, Amtrak services will relocate to the newly constructed Freighthouse Square station in Tacoma providing direct access to Sound Transit’s Sounder commuter rail, and Link light rail to downtown Tacoma.

Given these benefits, is the proposed design of this project really worth sacrificing the potential transit orient development of the Dome District into an active urban environment?

Complete Streets: What They Are and Why We Need Them

A national movement is gaining momentum calling for “complete streets” that are designed for all types of users of all ages and abilities, pedestrians, cyclists, transit, trucks, cars, wheelchairs, skateboarders etc.

In addition to accommodating all users, complete street designs incorporate landscaping, trees and other features which provide both aesthetic and functional benefits, ultimately creating a sense of place that attracts all the users it was designed for.

The City of Tacoma is currently engaged in a study to incorporate complete street principles in the 16 Mixed-Use Centers. Tacoma’s Mixed-Use Centers are areas (primarily the neighborhood business districts) that are planned for high density housing, commercial revitalization, pedestrian friendly development and frequent transit service.

A number of recent planning processes have highlighted the benefits of and need for complete streets including Angelou Economics economic development strategy, the Downtown Plan Update, Destination Downtown, the Transportation Element of the Comprehensive Plan, and the Green Ribbon Taskforce.

The complete streets study identifies four street typologies, each with their own characteristics and uses. For more information on preliminary findings and designs here.

Main Streets (think McKinley, Proctor and 6th Ave.): High density people intensive retail uses oriented to the street. Street design emphasizes walking and highlights transit and bike access while promoting traffic calming. Two lanes streets (25 mph), short blocks with generous sidewalks.

Avenues (think S. Tacoma Way, S. 19th and Portland Ave): Commercial, office and mixed uses with buildings oriented to the street and parking in the rear. Street design emphasizes mobility and balances safety and service for all modes. Three to five travel lanes (35 mph) with on-street parking. Encourage mid-block crossings with medians and pedestrian islands on longer blocks (500’-600’).

Transit Priority Streets (think Tacoma Ave., Division and Pacific): High density people-intensive uses. Mixed use buildings oriented to the street. Street design promotes frequent transit service (bus and streetcar) and a high quality pedestrian environment with curb bulbs and regular pedestrian crossings.. Two shared travel lanes (25mph) with on street parking where appropriate. Bikes are accommodated on parallel streets.

Urban Residential Streets: Primarily Multifamily residential uses with limited commercial/ mixed uses. Street design promotes ‘livable streets’ with wide sidewalks, public art, seating, pedestrian scale lighting, attractive landscaping, bike lanes. Two travel lanes with slow travel speeds. Angled or parallel parking on street for visitors, residential parking in nearby lots/garages.

The purpose of the complete streets study is to inform a City Council policy discussion of the opportunities and challenges in Tacoma. The project will develop guidelines for complete streets that, if approved, would be used to direct future street improvements within the Centers.

California's Governor Schwarzenegger signed the Complete Streets Act of 2008 (pdf) into law on September 30. The law requires cities and counties statewide to incorporate complete streets when updating their general plans. Learn more at http://www.completestreets.org/

City Leaders Bike to Work

City Council members, Planning Commissioners, and Public Works staff biked to work together this morning. Members of the Tacoma Wheelmen’s Bicycle Club joined the ride, as well as local media, Chamber and City staff. The event was organized by the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber and the City’s mobility staff and aimed to encourage policy makers (and stripe painters) to experience first hand what it’s like to ride on Tacoma’s streets.

Nearly 25 riders met in Proctor, East Tacoma, and near the Scott Pierson trail off of Union during rush hour this morning. All three groups rendezvoused at the Tacoma Municipal Building, where riders faced perhaps one of the biggest challenges of the morning: Where to store the bikes.

These “uh-oh” moments were just what organizers had hoped for, and as participants chatted over breakfast, the conversation was rich with more observations and insightful perspective on how Tacoma can become a more bike-friendly city.



Here are some of the themes of what people noticed and suggested:

• Road conditions were inconsistent and often dangerous. Riders often have to make sudden decisions about how best to avoid potholes, which is particularly tricky and unsafe when there are vehicles nearby (driving and parked). The danger factor of potholes and other wear and tear – and whether people even notice them – often depends on how many wheels you have underneath you.
• Bulb outs are great for pedestrians, but not always for bikes. Unless they are incorporated into the street design properly with all transportation modes in mind, these devices aimed to improve walking can be detrimental to biking.
• We need better signage for what we do have. Even when there were trails or bike lanes, it was hard for newer riders to know how they connected.
• The Pierce County Bike Map needs help. Badly. Commuters also need a bike map that focuses on downtown and residential areas. Connecting modes (like public transit) is also necessary, especially for those of us looking for ways to get out of downtown without climbing Tacoma’s treacherous hills.
• Vehicles behave differently when there is a herd of bikes. Let’s be honest: with 7-8 riders and lots of reflective clothing, we were pretty hard to miss this morning. When you’re a lone cyclist, it can be trickier to know how to behave in traffic and bike predictably (read: safely).

On that note, the overarching call to action for the morning was the need for not only adequate biking infrastructure, but appropriate education for cyclists and motor vehicle drivers. Casual and avid riders alike emphasized that the instances in which they felt the least safe were when they either didn’t know how to behave as a cyclist or when cars behaved unpredictably around them. Becoming a city that encourages biking as transportation, recreation, and fitness means that we need to adjust our collective mindset and behaviors to be predictable, legal, and safe as we build better biking amenities.

This is certainly only the beginning of the conversation, and it is an imperative one for Tacoma residents to be a part of. Talk your City Council and City Staff about biking in Tacoma. Encourage them to keep these comments and issues in mind as they consider a Bike and Pedestrian master plan next year.

Filming in the Post Office Closes A Street

A permit issued to film in the old courthouse above the Post Office on A Street will close A street and restrict parking in the area from 10/13-10/22.

During this time:

• Court A will be closed to traffic
• There will be limited parking around the Post Office. The principal exception will be on the east side of A Street

The film crew will move in props and cameras on Monday, 10/13, all the large trucks, gondolas (with lights) and generators will be parked fro the duration of the filming on the streets adjacent to the Post Office.

All filming will occur inside the building. Filming itself will be on the third floor, so access to postal services and boxes should not be impacted.

Questions or Comments? email or call Nancy P. Grabinski-Young, Economic Development Supervisor, Tacoma Community & Economic Development Department 253.591.5394.

Downtown Plan Emphasizes: Vitality, Sustainability, Healthy Economy and the Arts

The Downtown Plan Update was presented at a public information session last Wednesday. The Update builds on the Destination Downtown Plan, while focusing on four primary visions for downtown: A Balanced, Healthy Economy; Achieving Vitality Downtown; Sustainable City; City of the Arts. These themes sound good, but what do they really mean for Tacoma?

A Balanced, Healthy Economy
The goal of this theme is to build on existing efforts to create downtown as a major employment, economic and cultural center developed around world-class companies. This will be accomplished by fostering an entrepreneurial culture for businesses particularly in the target sectors of:

• Business and Professional Services
• Creative Arts and Design
• Financial Services
• IT and Software Design
• Trade and Logistics Services

The Plan calls for efforts that focus investment and redevelopment in the international financial services area (north end of downtown), the commercial core (between Tacoma Ave, Cliff Ave, S. 15th St. and S. 7th St.), and the Brewery District (south end of downtown).

The Plan also calls for implementing a comprehensive parking management strategy in downtown. This means developing a paid parking (on and off street) system that integrates with other viable transportation alternatives (biking, transit and walking among others).

Achieving Vitality
Essentially achieving this vision requires flexible regulations and design guidelines to encourage recognizably unique and desirable areas in downtown. This vision seeks to apply livability criteria, like walkability, access to adequate sunlight on the street, attractive and pedestrian scale façade treatments to building designs. This effort will help ensure that downtown buildings intentionally create and define a sense of place rather than hamper it. Improving perceptions of downtown safety, integrating activities and plans with UWT and striving to preserve the historic character of downtown are other components of this theme.

Sustainable City
Emphasizing sustainability in downtown, means facilitating a coordinated approach to economic, environmental and social considerations. To achieve these diverse goals the Plan makes a number of diverse recommendations to encourage sustainability in downtown:

• Plans for future housing should consider walking and high capacity transit and distances to employment centers.
• Strive to create a family friendly downtown by planning for amenities that attract and benefit all ages.
• Consider connections to adjacent neighborhoods.
• Develop an urban agriculture or community garden program to increase access and knowledge of fresh foods.
• Provide more alternative to driving alone into and around downtown via complete street designs that provide for walking, biking, transit riders and other non-car centric forms of transportation.

City of the Arts
This final vision builds off the City’s two established art clusters, the Theater District in the north and the museum area in the south end of downtown. Establishing the creative arts and design as a target sector for Tacoma helps to brand Tacoma as a desirable urban environment with a high quality of life. To build this cluster the Plan recommends the following efforts:

• Establish a public-private partnership to assist the burgeoning creative class
  Support and incentivize artists to move downtown .
• Fund and support public art.
• Continue to revitalize the Theater District.
• Formulize a master plan for a 15th Ave. “Glass Walk” to high light public art in downtown.
• Create a post-secondary design curriculum at SOTA and UWT.

For more details on these visions for downtown Tacoma go to the City of Tacoma’s downtown plan website.

OR

The Planning Commission will conduct a Public Hearing on October 1, 2008, at 5:00 p.m. to receive testimony on the proposed Downtown Plan Element of the Comprehensive Plan. The hearing will be held in the Council Chambers, 747 Market Street, Tacoma. Written comments may be submitted through October 10, 2008, via (a) U.S. mail to Planning Commission, 747 Market Street, Room 1036, Tacoma, WA 98402; (b) FAX to (253) 591-2002; or (c) e-mail to planning@cityoftacoma.org (enter "Downtown Plan" in the subject line).

Reinvent Your Commute in Tollefson Plaza on Oct 1st

Join fellow downtown commuters, as we kickoff the "Downtown: On the Go!" campaign, a collaborative effort by the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, the City of Tacoma, Pierce Transit, and Pierce County aimed at reducing traffic congestion and parking challenges in downtown Tacoma by getting commuters, students and residents onto buses and bikes, walking, and sharing rides instead of driving alone.

WHEN: October 1st, 11am-2pm

WHERE: Tollefson Plaza

This will be a fun event with lots of transportation resources for commuters, residents, students and employers including lunchtime vendors, prizes from local shops, free bus passes, games, live music, and more.

Here are some of the opportunities and activities available to you in Tollefson Plaza on October 1st:

• Get lunch from local food vendors – receive $1 off just for coming!


• Sip coffee or tea from Mad Hat Tea Company and Blackwater Coffee


• Listen to the Brazilian jazz of Olympia music group, Ocho Pies


• Learn about commute options: Transit, Carpool, Vanpool, Walk, Bike


• Pick up the new downtown walking map


• Tour the Pierce Transit Vanpool, Bus and Bus Plus vehicles and practice putting a bike on the front bus rack


• Talk to Vanpool riders and learn a new way to get to work


• Play games to win prizes from local vendors, including free monthly bus passes


• Give input on downtown plans with VIA architecture


• Learn how businesses downtown are encouraging alternative transportation options and how your business can create a transportation plan


• Sign up for piercetrips.com to begin logging your commutes, entering to win great prizes, and calculating cost and pollution savings


• Give us your input on a car-sharing survey and receive a two-for-one cupcake coupon for Hello, Cupcake


• Practice your chalk skills as you explore the art of transportation


• Pick up a Pierce County Bike Map and learn new routes to ride


• Plus: Special prizes and information especially for UWT students, including the chance to win a Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit bundle if you sign of for the new student version of piercetrips.com

JOIN US IN TOLLEFSON PLAZA!

Tacoma Downtown Parking Survey Needs Your Input

Make your voice heard. Fill out the Downtown Parking Survey right now!

Parking is vital to the success of Tacoma’s downtown. The City of Tacoma is engaged in a project to examine current parking conditions and explore future solutions, including paid on-street parking.

As an early step, the City wants to capture the views of downtown employers, employees, residents, students and visitors in the central business district. Please provide your assessment of the current situation, and your ideas about effective parking management strategies for the future.

Please take a moment to complete the survey by September 26.
The survey is available on-line at www.barneyandworth.com/tacoma.

Spread the word, and encourage your business neighbors and coworkers to respond to make this survey as representative as possible.

Coming Soon… Pacific Avenue Construction

Roadway construction on Pacific Avenue between S. 17th and S. 25th Streets is scheduled to on Sunday, August 23rd. According to the City of Tacoma Public Works Department, this section of Pac. Ave. “desperately needs repair and is failing rapidly.”

The primary goal of the Pacific Avenue Improvement Project is to remove and replace both the base section and the asphalt surface of the street. The project will also repair sidewalks, curbs and gutters, where needed.

Constructions will take place between now and winter 2008 in the following stages:
1st Phase: 17th to 21st Street (west side)
2nd Phase: 17th to 21st (east side)
3rd Phase: 21st to 25th including 25th from Pacific to C Street (west side)
4th Phase: 21st to 25th (east side)

The Good News:

• The construction work is scheduled to take place at night between the hours of 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.
• No construction work will be done at the concrete intersections.
• Angle parking will be maintained within the area during the day.
• Sidewalks will remain open.
• The City and contractor will work with businesses to accommodate delivery schedules.
• No utility work will be done at this time since it was done when the Light Rail was constructed.
• When the project is complete (scheduled for winter 2008) we’ll have a new road and nicer sidewalks

The Bad News:

• The street will be torn up!
• There will be less access to shops, restaurants and other businesses along this segment of Pacific Ave.
• Road construction projects often create a noisy, dirty and inhospitable environment.
• During construction times (9 p.m. to 7 a.m.) the road will be restricted to local and emergency vehicles only.
• BIA sidewalk cleaning service along this segment of Pac. Ave. will be limited for the duration of the project.

The City of Tacoma Public Works Department is holding an Open House for residents and business owners to learn more about the scope of the work, the construction schedule and answer any questions about the potential impacts.

The Open House will be held on Wednesday, August 6 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Tacoma Municipal Building, 747 Market St., Room 708.

For more information regarding this project, please contact Karrie Spitzer in Community Relations at karrie.spitzer@cityoftacoma.org or by phone at (253) 591-5790, or contact Dan Seabrands with Public Works at dseabran@cityoftacoma.org or by phone at (253) 591-5150.

Broadway LID Phase 2 Begins Early

Phase 2 of the Broadway Local Improvement District (BLID) will begin July 28th, three months ahead of schedule.

Business owners had previously been told that improvements on Market Street, between South 9th and South 7th Street, would begin in October. Instead, starting next week, Wm. Dickson Co. will begin work on Phases 1 and 2 of the BLID concurrently. This work will include utility upgrades, sidewalk repairs and other streetscape improvements.

The contractor and the City chose to move forward on Phase 2 sooner than planned to take advantage of the dry summer weather, which is generally ideal for street work. Also, by doing Phase 1 & 2 simultaneously, the project timeline will speed up 1 to 3 months, with a winter break. (At no additional cost.)

Additionally, according to the City’s project website, moving forward on Phase 2 now will allow streetscape improvements to be made at the same time as the storm drain work, eliminating the need to tear up the street more than once. Was the plan really to dig up the street twice!?

This schedule change will mean more traffic restrictions along Market Street between 7 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Also, all on street parking will be eliminated from the work area.

WANTED: Comments on Wayfinding Sign Designs

On Thursday representatives from Rusty George creative presented two new concepts for wayfinding signage in downtown. The intention of the signs are to more effectively direct visitors to Tacoma to sites, attractions and areas of interest in downtown Tacoma and other business districts.

The design of the signs is based a few guiding principles:

• Use established best practices for effective signage (Font size and type, arrow shape, ADA needs)
• Simplify and prioritize information
• Be consistent
• Information should be logical, visible and easy to follow
• Colors, words and symbols should compliment not compete

The new concept designs will be presented to the Economic Development Committee on August 29th. Please review the designs here. We welcome and encourage your comments. Please email all comments to ChelseaL@tacomachamber.org

The City Plans to Close "A" Street!...What?

No, the City of Tacoma will not be closing all of "A" Street in downtown Tacoma. However, I have heard a number of shocked, confused and concerned comments like this in the past couple weeks. Let me set the record straight.

Misinformed rumors of the "A" Street closure began in mid-May when the City announced plans for the long awaited Prairie Line Trail improvements. The Prairie Line railroad right-of-way, owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF), runs from near South Tacoma Way to the Thea Foss Waterway and bisects the University of Washington Tacoma Campus.

The City has reached a proposed “win-win” agreement with BNSF in which the railroad company will trade the City a 20-foot wide strip of property within the Prairie Line right-of-way in exchange for the closure of the railroad crossing at "A" Street and Dock Street. The acquired land will provide a non-motorized trail link between the Thea Foss, UWT and amenities in downtown Tacoma. Another exciting feature of this proposal is the opportunity for an additional pedestrian bridge linking downtown to the Thea Foss (more details on this to come).

The rail crossing is commonly closed due to flooding and BNSF contends that the curve of the tracks at this location makes the crossing particularly dangerous for vehicles and pedestrians. Furthermore, the agreement states that the "A" Street crossing will not be closed until the new "D" Street overpass project (that provides access to Dock Street) has been operational for 90 days.

A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for June 17th, 5pm at the Tacoma Municipal Building.

Team Assembles to Push Commute Options

The big push is on to help downtown employees find new ways to get to work, reducing costs for development and spurring deployment of new commute options. A team of key staff people from the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, City of Tacoma and Pierce Transit have begun meeting to shape a program that will help reduce traffic congestion--or at least hold the line as employment rises--in downtown during the next year.

Portland consultant Rick Williams is helping this group develop and implement a comprehensive action plan that includes the folowing strategic steps:

• Establish a Premier Partnership, made up of downtown's top private and public executives (a commitment made by the Chamber as part of its contribution to Project Destiny);
• Assemble a downtown geocode--location in geographic space converted into computer readable form (a task for City staff with their extensive Geographic Information System);
• Overlay infrastructure on the geocode and assess service delivery (a job for Pierce Transit);
• Target marketing (cooperative effort by all three parties);
• Reach agreement on transit & parking goals (a cooperative effort by all parties following successful completion of the other strategies).

Partners in this combined effort are looking for a new, jazzy moniker for this unprecedented alignment of business, government, and transit agency--GTEC doesn't cut it; neither does Destination Downtown Door-To-Door.

Transit & Parking Recommendations Presented to City

Members of the Transit & Parking Advisory Committee, a stakeholder group organized by the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, shared their most recent recommendations with members of the City of Tacoma's Economic Development Committee this past Tuesday. The committee, currently chaired by Marty Campbell, has successfully pulled together downtown leaders with City and transit agency staff to help identify and implement changes needed to make that complex system work better.

Campbell presented new paradigms for both parking and transit, leading into the committee's most significant recommendations:

• Develop a downtown transportation plan that considers pedestrian, bicycle, carpool, vanpool, bus, rail, Flexcar and parking as coordinated elements of a strategic transportation system;
• A more robust, employer-based transportation demand management (TDM) program should be pursued (i.e., Growth Transportation Efficiency Center and Destination Downtown Door-to-Door). This program will build momentum—augmenting current CTR programs that already promote use of excellent local and regional transit services—to promote awareness and utilization of commute options;
• The City of Tacoma, Pierce Transit, Sound Transit and downtown stakeholders should institute a Downtown Transit & Parking Panel (implementation committee) to foster communication, facilitate collaborative decision-making among parking stakeholders, review parking and transit policies, provide a customer perspective and benchmark how well the system is meeting established criteria.

In response to questions from Council members, Campbell explained that the committee's recommendations closely parallel those of City Manager Eric Anderson, and he indicated that the committee is expanding its geographic scope and membership to give it the ability to act as a part of the implementation process.

Green Light or Yellow Light for Downtown Transit?

The Tacoma City Council is poised this evening to move forward on a resolution putting legs underneath City Manager Eric Anderson's parking & "mobility" program--now part of the Project Destiny initiative. Marty Campbell, recently elected chair for the Transit & Parking Advisory Committee, will be offering testimony at the meeting in support of this measure.

Downtown leaders can now be expected to focus attention on the transit portion of the program. One element sure to be discussed is the concept of a "fareless square" for transit riders, patterned after the program that has operated in Portland since 1975 (Seattle has a much smaller fareless zone with hours limited to 6:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.). After more than 32 years of operation, however, Portland's fareless square may be on the verge of severe cut-backs--and for what may be a surprising reason.

In response to recent security concerns, Portland's TriMet has outlined a new security plan as part of a multi-faceted strategy to improve safety at night throughout the transit system; one proposal of this plan would be to limit Fareless Square zone hours to 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Much of the disruptive and threatening behavior that has been witnessed on MAX occurs at night between downtown and the Lloyd District. The proposal is specifically targeted at passenger safety in the downtown core, and to substantially reduce the type of undesirable behavior that impacts system safety.

The Lloyd Transportation Management Association (TMA), which contributes funding to help pay for fareless service to Lloyd District, has sent a letter to TriMet objecting to both the rationale and the timeline for the decision limiting fareless square hours.

What implications might this decision have for a "fareless square" in downtown Tacoma? Will security concerns force Sound Transit--which is now extending Link's evening hours--to curtail free service on light rail?